Hello, I'm 18 years old, 6'0", and 170lb. For the past 4 year are so I have been leading a very unhealthy lifestyle. My daily routine would be something like this

Morning 7:00AM: Wake up go to school (nothing to eat)
During School: Eat nothing
Come Home 3:15PM: Eat a lot of sweets
5PM: Eat a few sandwiches
7PM: Eat a big dinner
12:00PM: Sleep

For the past three moths though I have been trying to change this. I now eat breakfast, whole wheat bread, spinach, mayo, slice of turkey breast, and have cut down on sweets. However, I still don't eat anything while I'm in school. When I come home I would either make another sandwich or wait for my mother to cook dinner.

I also started exercising after school. Which involves jump roping for about 30 - 40 minutes and lifting weight for about 15 minutes. I managed to go from 185lb to 170lb in two months. I can also now run around my block without having to stop to cath my breathe.

Now, I want to get more serious about getting into shape however, I don't know where to start. My main focus is loosing the fat off my belly, because for some reason that is where it all goes. Secondly, I want to improve my cardio and grow some muscles. What would you guys suggest? What diet should I go on? What exercise program should I go with? Thanks.

Hi Subflood. I would suggest a starting point. Take the link back to EXRX main page. From there, read the beginner's page. It will suggest starting with a basic weight program. I would not focus in on the stomach, simply work it into your basic beginner's program. The new diet, and exerise should take care of you stomach without having to focus on doing ab exercises all day long. The reommendations will lead you to start out with a full body workout 2-3 X week, etc. It will also step you through setting up a schedule, sets/reps etc. If you have questions , just ask away.
Another section you will want to visit is the cardio section, again from the home page, but you seem to have that covered already with the jump ropes.
Finally, diet. Well, your going to have to start brown bagging your luch with you to school, Visit the nutritionsection for particulars on that.
Good training to you
Tim

I'm confused about the number of sets and repetitions I should do. For example, say I start with 30lb on the bench press, if I do 12 repetitions do I next increase the weight by 3lb for the next set? Do I keep doing this until I'm not able to do 12 repetitions?

Hi Subflood. As to the weights, I think the program you selected looks pretty good. If you have access to a squat rack and barbell, I would use squats vice the lunge, or do squats one sessions, lunges on the next exercise day (alternate them). Otherwise, looks like a good solid starting point. One point though, would be the order. I would do the quads to start off with, do the BP, the 2 Row moves, then the DB straight leg DL, then move on to the rest. This will keep it more evenly distributed, and keep the order going from large muscle grouping working down to the smaller muscle groups.
Sets/reps. Yes, It can get confusing. Lots of different approaches out there. Seeing as you are just starting out, I would do this. For the first week or two, take fairly light weight and do about 2 sets of each exercise for 10-15 reps. Learn the eercises first, get comfortable with them. After 1-2 weeks, you should know a little better about where you stand in each exercise, weight -wise, in terms of where your limits might be. Then, get serious. Do your first set fairly light for around 10 reps (this is a "warm up"), then add some weight to get you to a point that you can do at least 8 reps, but no more than 12. Whenn you hit 12 reps, the next session add 5 or 10 lbs, depending on the exercise, and start the progression again, from 8 up to 12 reps. It will go fairly quickly in the beginning, because your are adapting. For the first month or so, I don't think you will need more than 1 or 2 "work" or heavier sets, but a second won't hurt. You probably won't get the same amount of reps on the 2nd set, but that's normal. For example, Your first exercise, say bench press, do a warm up of 50 lbs for 10 reps, take a little breather, add weight and do your "work" set at 80 lbs for 10 reps, take another breather and if you choose, do a second "work" set at 80 lbs, and you might only get 8 or 9 reps, then go on to the next.
Hope this explains things a bit.
Good training.
Tim

Hello, I'm 18 years old, 6'0", and 170lb. For the past 4 year are so I have been leading a very unhealthy lifestyle. My daily routine would be something like this<snip>Now, I want to get more serious about getting into shape however, I don't know where to start. My main focus is loosing the fat off my belly, because for some reason that is where it all goes. Secondly, I want to improve my cardio and grow some muscles. What would you guys suggest? What diet should I go on? What exercise program should I go with? Thanks.

Hiya subflood,

Looks like Tim is giving you good advice, so I'll talk a little about dieting.

My favorite diet involves eating all day. This way your body has tools to work with.<g> If possible, I'd suggest you get up a half an hour earlier every day, and do a little cardio right when you wake up (don't shock your muscles though, start out slow and warm up right) That way your cardio workouts are out of the way early.

If I'm doing a short cardio workout, like..20 to 30 minutes, I won't usually eat right before. But definately eat before you go to school. If you plot out your calorie intake for the day, and then spread it throughout the day, your body with have a constant source for nutrition and you'll be less likely to start craving ice cream in the afternoon.

Stay away from soda pop, junk food, and fast food.

have something before you lift, so you have enough energy to sustain the workout. But don't lift after some heavy meal or you are likely to get sick. Save the bigger meal for after the workout if possible. your muscles need fuel to grow, and they need REST.

Drink plenty of water throughout the day. every action of every cell in your body uses requires water.

Learn to lift with proper form to avoid injury, and to get the most from your workouts. Remember when you plan that workout to plan in proper rest.

There is a lot of info out on this site about planning proper workouts and almost everything else about getting fit!

Thanks for the advice TimD. I went to the training room today to just get familiar with the exercises and I noticed I have to change from the BB to DB for my calves. Next, I overdid it with my quadriceps, it hurts a lot when I walk down stairs. Finally, I tried to do the weighted crunch but my lower back and stomch was in pain, only did 3 or 4 reps with 3lb. Is that normal?

Thanks dian in spokane. I don't have a problem with drinking water. I'll try to the cardio tomorrow or until my legs recover from todays workout.

Thanks for the advice TimD. I went to the training room today to just get familiar with the exercises and I noticed I have to change from the BB to DB for my calves. Next, I overdid it with my quadriceps, it hurts a lot when I walk down stairs. Finally, I tried to do the weighted crunch but my lower back and stomch was in pain, only did 3 or 4 reps with 3lb. Is that normal?

Thanks dian in spokane. I don't have a problem with drinking water. I'll try to the cardio tomorrow or until my legs recover from todays workout.

You did not necessarily overdo it with your quads (as long as your form was good). Most likely next workout will be better, and the next one better still even if you increase the weight. At least this was my experience.

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